STALKER presents FUCK EASTER – or rather "presented". If you missed this slightly different Osterfest, you should be sorry you did. Both of our reporters from Hamburg were very sorry indeed, since they were at home in bed being ill and missed the whole festival. Matthias Lohse was already on his way from Elmshorn – ill, but determined – when he was forced to turn back and choose his bed over the mosh pit. How annoying! metal.de really helped us out by agreeing to share their report with us. a big thank you to them! Our photographer was healthy and on site – you can see the results in our extensive photo gallery.

What a line-up! From metal-pope Peter Tägtgren and his band Hypocrisy as headliner, to Betzefer from Israel, to One Man Army And The Undead Quartet, there was something for every musical taste from death metal to metalcore. Amorphis, who are on tour with their new album and a new singer, and Soilwork were the other two headliners. The organisers of the Fuck Easter Festival really did their best to please the North-German metal scene before Easter. Great fun for all those present – a big mistake by all those who weren´t.

Heaven Shall Burn

Unfortunately the five guys from Heaven Shall Burn appeared on stage a quarter of an hour late. Singer Marcus apologised immediately after the song „The only truth“, saying they got stuck. The loss of time was compensated by the guys from Saalfeld by the uninterrupted playing of their set and their very short announcements. The audience appreciated this. One stage diver after the other jumped off the stage. The market hall began to fill up and the mosh pit grew bigger, wilder and sweatier. Marcus Bischoff took pity on the mosh crowd and after splashing some water on himself, he threw some water on the crowd. The action didn´t only take place in front of the stage, Heaven Shall Burn got the audience properly fired up from the stage. Ripping, at times brutal guitar riffs, heavy bass, pounding drums and last but not least the screaming vocals, provided the metalcore fans the opportunity to have their ears cleaned out good and proper. The audience cheered when the first notes of „Behind all of silence“ off their 2002 album „Whatever it may take“ sounded. Marcus made use of the opportunity to have the audience scream „Behind“, whereupon he completed the rest of it. After „Voice of the voiceless“ the Heaven Shall Burn-front man told the people in the back rows to follow the example of the others and join the mosh pit. He himself kept leaning on the hands of the fans in the front rows, which encouraged the crowd to stagedive and mosh even more. Too bad the guys from HSB didn´t have a bit more time.

Amorphis

They were the most highly anticipated band, hundreds of arms went up in the air when the first notes of the intro sounded. After three minutes that seemed to last forever, they finally entered the stage; Amorphis! They were received with a lot of cheers and applause. The well-known metal sign – the devil´s horns – were everywhere. But there were also some surprised faces in the crowd when the lights went on and the band members were visible. Obviously the news of Pasi Koskinen´s departure from the band hadn´t reached everyone. Tomi Joutsen ghas been taking his place in the band for a year and a half now. Some people may know him from the Finnish band Nevergreen. With their current album „Eclipse“ Amorphis is once again on the path to the sound it had in the 90s. Clear vocals alternated with growls, heavy guitar riffs, with some keyboards here and there and bass guitar and drums to make the music complete. The well-mixed sound and the perfectly adjusted sound volume made the gig a feast for the ears of the fans. The Finns played a very varied set with a lot of new pieces, but also some older ones. Tomi Joutsen delivered an excellent show for the audience. At every opportunity he was banging circles with his dreadlocks so vehemently, his head might have fallen off at any moment. He was constantly on the move, from the left side of the stage to the right, oftentimes very close to the fans at the edge of the stage. This man is certainly a worthy replacement of Pasi Koskinen. One the passions of Amorphis hasn´t changed since they switched singers: the smoke. Many times the six Finns disappeared from sight completely due to the amount of smoke. But this didn´t seem to bother anyone, so the rocking continued.

Soilwork

The monitors of the market hall were tested to their limits when Soilwork came to perform. The Swedes had only just entered the stage, when singer Björn, nicknamed „Speed“, and bass player Ola Flink climbed onto the monitors. Björn was firing the audience up from the very first moment. With his hands up in the air he stood on the monitor and commanded the fans to do the same. An ocean of hands, arms and devil´s horns, accompanied by loud growling, crying and cheering. Ola Flink was no less than the Soilwork frontman. He was constantly stretching up, standing on the monitor, thrusting his bass up in the air and then running across the stage like a canon ball – always with a grin on his face. This bass player is worthy of the name „Flink“. He was moving around the stage the whole time. ola Flink wasn´t only visually present, he was also very audible. His bass was booming from the speakers and was clearly, but not annoyingly, discernable from the other instruments. You could clearly hear that Soilwork have been playing together for a long time, all of the musicians are excellent. Unfortunately the volume was too high, so without ear plugs ringing ears were inevitable. The crowd didn´t seem too bothered by it, they were incessantly moshing to the old as well as the new songs. Soilwork played the song „Stalemate“ off their current album „Stabbing the drama“ and also among others the song „The Bringer“ from their 2002 album „Natural born chaos“. At the end of the gig singer Björn was amused about himself and the fans and asked the audience: „Are you swimming in your own sweat yet?“

Hypocrisy

The word in the market hall was that the „Pope of metal“ was in town. Some people actually dared to ask Peter Trägtgen for an autograph as he was sauntered through the foyer of the market hall. Reserved but friendly, Peter granted the probably long cherished wish of those who asked. As soon as he got on stage, the reserved attitude had completely disappeared. Hypocrisy delivered death metal of the top shelf. At the very beginning of the gig the Swedes played „Fire in the sky“ off their album „Ten years of chaos and confusion“. The fans approved and so a few hundred metals were growling along with Peter. After every single song the headliners of the evening were celebrated, as if they hadn´t been on tour for ages. Normally the market hall in Hamburg empties out fairly quickly around midnight, but not when Hypocrisy is playing. The people in the mosh pit were tireless. The stagedivers were also jumping into the moshing crowd constantly. Was it the alcohol, or perhaps the excellent percussion by Horgh, that made the crowd perform like that? Fast, inciting parts followed by heavy pounding, typical death metal guitar riffs with a melodic influence here and there. And last but not least the vocals by Peter, who manages to growl in high as well as in low tones. Around 0.30 a.m. Hypocrisy finally left the stage, but came right back for an encore, starting off with „War-Path“. Hypocrisy left behind a very satisfied audience at this year´s Fuck Easter Festival in Hamburg.